Abigail Nweke, the woman accused of luring four girls from Benue State into prostitution in Calabar, Cross River State, has been remanded in prison custody on charges of human trafficking, Vanguard reports.
Nweke, who is fondly called 'Chairlady,’ was alleged to have tricked the young girls, Felicia Nzuworgar, 17, Patience Williams, 18, Angela Benjamin, 17 and Charity Nkwogor, 17, who are all from Okun Local Government Area of Benue State, to Calabar where she forced them to work as prostitutes in a popular brothel called Vegas Flex, located at 26 Bedwell Street, in the Canaan City, with her collecting the money the girls make from the men who slept with them.
The girls had confessed, when they were rescued, that they slept with an average of 20 men per day at N500 per round of sex and that Nweke collected the money from them and beat them up anytime they refused to hand over the money or made attempts to escape.
Nweke was arraigned at the Magistrate’s Court 1, presided over by Magistrate Michael Edoki, for unlawfully abducting the teenage girls from their homes and forcing them to become sex slaves.
The police prosecutor, Maxwell Bassey, told the court that Nweke deceitfully took the girls from their homes without the consent of their parents and forced them into prostitution, a criminal offence punishable with five years imprisonment if found guilty.
When the charge was read to her, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge, saying she was arrested based on the report of some people who are jealous of her progress.
“I sell roasted plantain and fish in front of Vegas Flex and not into prostitution as claimed by those who reported me.”
She added that only one of the girls, Charity, was brought by her to assist her sell the fish and plantain, while the rest came on their own to function as commercial sex workers in the brothel.
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